Scale.



Patented Dea-2,1913

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1A INVENTOR MMR.

wrm-asses A. y. A'IKBN( SCALE. APLilOATION FILED JAN. 21, l 909.

,080,4:0-1'. Y Patenea 1380.2, 1913.

WITNESSES INVENTOR $4 y i l A. P. AIKEN.

Y SCALE.

l APPLICATION'FILB'D JAN.21,1909. 1,080,401,` Patented Dec. 2, 1913,

WITNESSES A. P. AIKBN.

SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED EAN. 21, 1 909.`

Bateuted Deo. 2, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

.Eroivr. AIKEN, or BnADDocK, PENNSYLVANIA.

SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rapentednee. 2, 1913.

Application filed January 21, 1909. Serial No. 473,513.

To all whom t may concern.'

' Be it known that I, ALBION P. AIKEN, of Braddock, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Scales, of which the followin is a full, clear, and eXact description, re erence being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which.

' Figure 1 is a side elevation of a scale beam box and a portion of the scales with one kform of my vimprovement attached; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the beam box; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line III-1110i Fig. 1; Fig. 4 ifs a detail side elevation of one of the beam bearings; Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line V`V of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a detail side elevation showing a portion of one of the beam blades with its poise` and the adjustable' stop for'the poise, the stop being `shown in section; Fig. 7 Iist. sectional end view-of the stop taken on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a plan of the scale beamA 'showing the cover or shield for the graduated blades on the beam, with the slots or openings in the cover through which the beam poise bails or handles project; Fig. 9 is a `longitudinal sectional elevation of the same taken on the line IX-IX of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a sect-ional end elevation of the scale beam taken on the line X-X of Fig.v8.

My invention relates to weighing scales,

- particularly to scales which are attached to and form part of what are known as scale 815A cars or ore lorry cars, and the invention is designed to provide a scale having improved means by .which the various scale levers as well vas the scale beam and its attachments are ut under tension, so that when the scale car is shifted ii'om one point to another, the various parts of the scale will be yieldingly heldso that they will not be injured by the vibration which is caused by the moving of the car on its tracks.

Another object of my invention is to construct the pivot bearings of the scale beam in such manner as will cause the bearings to automatically aline themselves. Still another object" of my invention is to vsuspend the scale-"beamin such manner that the beam and its journal or pivot bear* ings will be universallymovable and to pro l vide means whereby vibration or swinging movement of the. beam and its supports is reduced to a minimum.

A further object of the invention is to pro- 'vide improved means for 1adjusting and alining the scale beamand its ljournals or pivot bearings.

A still further object of. my invention is to provide positively locked stops for the various blades of the beam, in order to stop the poise at the proper position on its beam to give the required weight; to provide means by which the poises are shifted upon the blades of the scale beam by the operator and also to provide means whereby the poise is locked in its extreme position on the blade of the beam.

Another obj ectofmy invention is tov provide means for protecting and concealing the graduated blades mounted on the scale beam.

The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, which Awill now be described, itl beingY premised, however, that various changes canibe made in the details of construction and general arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, the numeral, 2 designates a portion of the ore lorry car, to which is connected one end of a beam lever 3, which in turn is connected by means of links with the fifth lever 4 of the scale.

Mounted on the lorry car 2 is the scale, or beam box, which is provided with lugs (3, from which is suspended a platform 7 by means ot the adjustable rods 8. Surrounding each of these rods 8, and each contacting with the sides of the frame or box 5, so as to prevent swinging of the platform, are the rubber washers 9.

Mounted on each side of theeplatfoim 7 is .a bearing block 10, and pivotally mounted in the upper portion of each of these bearing blocks is the swinging bearing member 11 provided with ahardened bearing block or plate 12. j

13 is the scale beam, provided with knife edges 14 on each side thereof, which rest on the hardened plate 12, which is located in the swinging bearings 11.

15 is a centrally located member of the beam, which is provided with the knife edges 16 having a link 'connection 17 with the beam lever 3. yEach' end of this beam 13 is provided with the slots 18 to receive the ends of the graduated bars 19, each of which is provided with a poise 20, having a bail or handle 20a by which itis shifted on the blade upon'which it is mounted, and a positive stop 21, which isV secured at the proper posi- `bars 19 is provided with the serrations or teeth 22. The stop 21 is provided wit-h the toothed member Q3I pivot-ally hung in the yoke Q4, which straddles the bar 19. The upper end of this yoke 24 is provided with a screw-threaded bolt-25, which passes upwardly through an orifice in the stop 21, and the upper, end of this bolt is provided with a thumb nut A26 to raise the yoke, and the tooth member 23 to engage the rack 22, and lock the stopin its adjusted positionl Surrounding this' bolt Q5, and interposed between the upper wall of the stop 21 and the top. of the yoke'f'24, is the coil spring 27, which normally tends to depress the yoke and the tooth memb/er so that the latter will be disengaged fromithe rack when the thumb nut 2G is released. j l. i

.28 and 29- are catches, one `of which is se- .cured to each side of the poise 20, and secured to the side of the stop 21 and to the. side of the beam 13, lare the respective catches 30 and 31.l lVhen the pois'e 20 is thrown to the left or y.to'ward the end ot' the beam, the catch 29 will engage the catch Ill and'retain the poise in its rearward position; and when the poise is thrown to the right or against the stop 2l, the catches 29.

and 30 will engage each other and retain I :their blades 19,

the poise inthe proper position for weighing. j

Each poise 20 is provided with a bail or handle 20a and the scale beam-:13 is provided with a removable cover or shield. As shown the cover is formed of a series of narrow metal plates 44 spaced apart to form slots or grooves through which the hails 20 project to enable '.the poises heilig moved on The outer plates 44 are curved downwardly on their outer edges to cover the blades 19. One end of each strip or plate 44 extends into the slots 45 provided in the' end ofthe beam for this purpose and the opposite ends of the plates have a hole or opening 4G through which the pins 47 on the other end of the beam 13 project to hold these plates in place andprevent their sidewise or endwise movement.

AMounted in the lower. end ofleaclrof *the beam bearings-l0 is the transverse shaft 32, .and secured'to the outer end of `this shaft is a hand lever 33. lSecured to this vshaft 32 and adjacent to each of the beam bearings end of which surrounds vthe one end of the beam lever Pivotally connected to lugs en the platform T are the leaf springs 41,A

the other end of these springs projecting to a point slightly below the beam 13, and to the rear of `the connections between the beam and the beam lever. These leaf springs 41 project over the eccentrics 34 cn the shaft 32.

42 is an adjustable poise on one of the side bars of the beam 13, and is provided for balancing the scales, and 43 is a stop for the beam which is secured to the platform 7.

Vhen the mechanism is in the position shown in Fig. l, each poise is thrown to the right so that the sum total of the adjusted weight of the scales can be weighed. lVhen it is desired to merely weigh an amount equal to the amount registered on any one of the beam rods, the others of the poise membersare moved to the left so that their catches Q9 and 31 engageeach other. lVhen it is desired to move the lorry car from one position to another the hand lever is raised to' a point about 90 degrees from the position shown in Fig; 1, and the eccentrics 34 will 'engage with and put the leaf springs by raising the straps 3G so as to lift the end of the leaf spring 37, which will pixtlhc.

beam lever 3 under a yielding tension through the medium of the link 40.

The rotation of the shaft 3Q through its various connections places all of the members of the scale under a yielding tension,

and when the car is moved from one point.

t0 another the vibration of the various parts of the scale will be reduced to a mnnmum,

thereby overcoming the wear and tear on the knife edges of the scale levers, whi h vis very appreciable when all 'of the varibus members are free to be moved bythe vibration of the car." The rubber Washers 9 surrounding the suspending rods 8. permit yof a slight swinging motion of the platform y7 and its various connecti0ns,.while preventing or re ducing lto a minimumfthe longitudinal and transverse motion thereof.

The advantages of my invention result` from the provision of means for the suspension of the scale beam and Vbearings upon which the beam is pivoted, also, from the provision of self-adjusting. bearings for the knife edges of the beam thereby preventing a point contact of the knife edges-.on their hardened bearings. With such point contact, the knife edges would soon become broken or worn so as to throw the scale out of adjustment, and theswinging bearing will adjust itself to its knife edge and always give an edge contact. Also, by the provision of the transverse shaft and its eccentrics, which coperate with the leaf springs to throw the various scale members under a yielding tension, jumping and vibration of the various members is overcome and prevented during the movement of the lorry car from place to place to be loaded.

- rllhe cover over the blades of the scale beam prevent the accumulation of dirt upon the blades and onceal the graduations on the blades from observation. This is of value where it is desired to keep secret the weights of the mixdture of materials form: ing the charges loa ed on the lorry car. f

By the provision of the adjustable .fixed stops I am enabled/to positively fix the point at ywhich each-'poise member is to be stopped on its beam rod or blade thereby avoiding thelikelihood of mistakes which might be made by the negligence or lack of skill of the operator, and by theprovision of the stops on each end ofeach of the poise members, the same will be locked in either of its extreme positions, which will avoid the rebounding of the poise when thrown to either position.

By the term. beam as used herein is meant the scale beam which may be graduated or which may have a series of movable graduated bars thereon as shown. The term lever as used herein is intended to cover the scale levers which ordinarily carry the scale plat-form or its equivalent.

I claim:

l. A scale comprising a scale beam having knife edges secured thereto, swinging bearing members for supporting the knife edges, forked supports for the swinging bearing members, a suspended platform on which the forked. support are mounted, and means by which said platform is supported to swing and move the supports in parallel lines; substantially as described.

'2. A scale comprising a pivoted scale beam, a fifth lever, knife edges forming pivots for said scale beam and fifth lever, connections between the scale beam and fifth lever, means connecting said fifth lever to the scale levers, and yielding means arranged to place the scale beam under tension and hold the scale beam knife edges out of contact with the knife edge supports when the scale is not in use; substantially as described.

3. A scale comprising a pivoted beam, a lever, connect-ions between the pivoted beam and the lever, a transverse shaft having two sets of eccentrics thereon, springs overlying i tably movable in horizontal directions,

one set of eccentrics, a second spring in connection with the rst set of eccentrics, a yoke connected to the second vspring and straddling the beam lever, and means for adjusting the eccentricsA to exert pressure on the springs and place the scale members under tension; substantially as described.

4. A scale comprising a pivoted beam, an adjustable stop c-n said beam, a movable poise on the beam and means on the opposite ends of the poise for retaining the poise in either of its extreme positions on the beam; substantially as described.

5. A scale having a scale beam, a scale lever mechanism operatively connected to said scale beam and means rotatably movable in horizontal directions relative to the lever mechanism on which the beam is pivotally support-ed; substantially as described.

6; A- scale comprising a pivoted scale beam, a scale lever mechanism operatively connected to said scale beam, means rotatably movable in horizontal directions for pivotally supporting the scale beam, and cushioning means for limiting the free movement of the beam supporting means; substantially as described.

7. A scale having a pivoted scale beam and meansfor pivotally supporting the beam, said supporting means being rotaand cushioning means for limiting the free movement of the beam supporting means; substantially as described.

S. A scale having a scale beam, bearings on which said beamA is pivotally mounted, scale levers below said scale beam and operatively connected thereto, and means for supporting the scale beam and its bearings a1'- ranged to swing with and transversely of the length of said beam; substantially as described. i

9. A scale having a pivoted scale beam andpivoted bearings for said beam, the beam and its bearings being suspended to swing in a spherical path and yielding means for cushioning the swinging movement of said bearings and beam; substantially as described.

10. In a scale, a scale beam having a plurality of graduated blades thereon, a cover on said beam for the blades, having slots in the said cover, a movable poise mounted on each blade and means on each poise projecting through its slot above the cover for shifting the poise on its blade; substantially as described.

1l. In a scale, a scale beam having a plurality of graduated blades having slots therein thereon, a cover on said beam for the blades, a movable poise mounted on each blade and a bail on each poise, said bail projecting through its `slot in said cover; substantially' as described.

l2. A scale comprising a pivoted scale beam, scale levers belowT the scale beam, a fifth lever connected to the scale beam and the scale levers7 yielding means movable into 5 and out of position to hold the scale beam under tension, independent means movable y.' into and out of position to yieldingly hold the scale levers under tension, and means for moving said yielding means into operative my hand.

ALBION P. AIKEN. I Vitnesses Gl. E. F. GRAY,

FRANK A. PoWER. 

